Miranda Scolari

Miranda Scolari is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Texas Tech University, where she leads the Selective Attention & Perception (SAP) Lab. Her research focuses on the neural mechanisms of visual selective attention and its perceptual and behavioral consequences.

Dr. Scolari's primary research interests include visual selective attention, neural mechanisms of attention, perceptual processing, and interactions between attention and other cognitive processes. She employs fMRI, TMS, and behavioral methods to investigate how the human visual system functions as a limited-capacity processor that must select important information while ignoring irrelevant clutter. Her work particularly examines how attentional mechanisms recruit brain regions that process visual input to facilitate behavioral goals.

Her recent publications reveal consistent research themes in object-based attention, space-based attention, feature-based attention, and the role of pupil size as an indicator of attentional processes. Her work has appeared in leading journals including Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, Journal of Vision, and Journal of Neuroscience.

Dr. Scolari has received competitive research grants from the Psychological Sciences department to support dissertation research. She has successfully mentored several PhD students including Sean O'Bryan (first PhD graduate from her lab), Winson Yang, Ema Bidiwala, and Guangsheng Liang. Her lab has produced numerous publications on attentional mechanisms, visual perception, and cognitive neuroscience.

Her lab, the Selective Attention & Perception Lab, explores the functions and limitations of the human visual system when faced with perceptual challenges in natural environments that contain visual input exceeding processing capacities.